For years, the model railroad enthusiasts have endeavored to replicate as much of the appearance and performance of full-sized railcars into model railcars. They have included many minute details of the appearance of the railcar in their corresponding model.
However, numerous differences exist between model railcars and their full-sized counterparts beyond the mere difference in size. Model railcars are often made of material which is relatively inexpensive and easy to use for creating a scale model. Plastic materials are often used because of these benefits and more. While these plastic model railcars have many beneficial aspects, they do suffer from at least one significant problem. The weight ratio of a model railcar to a full-sized railcar is usually not proportional to the sizes of the same cars. This lighter weight model design creates one serious disadvantage—the ability for the model railcar to track correctly, especially at high speeds around curves, and when coupling and decoupling, etc.
Numerous attempts have been made to add weights to these cars. One example would be to add weight to the inside of the cargo area of the railcar. Other attempts have been to place the weights underneath the cars. Many of these weights are cast in a mold to a regular shape.
While such model railcar weighting techniques have been used in the past, they do have some drawbacks. One of the most significant drawbacks of many of these techniques is the poor aesthetics or poor realism. When a real train moves down a track, a certain percentage of the boxcar doors may be open; so hiding weights in the cargo area of model boxcars is not totally true to the model railroader's desire for realism. Having the weights visible in any way is clearly undesirable. Cast lead weights are often too thick to be easily concealed on a model railcar.
Consequently, there exists a need for improved methods and systems for weighting model railcars in an aesthetically pleasing manner.